Reviews – Page 195
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ArticleMichi: 9 Death Haiku
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Kono Michi (violin/singer) Satoshi Takeishi (percussion)Composer: Michi Kono Michi is a New York-based concert violinist and erstwhile Silk Road Ensemble collaborator, and has come up with this intriguing and exquisitely beautiful setting of Japanese deathbed haikus.If you listen to this ...
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ArticleDubois: Violin Sonata in A major, Cello Sonata in D major, Ballade, Nocturne, Mélodie, Andante appassionato, Andante cantabile, Méditation, Scherzetto, Cavatine
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Anne Robert (violin) Benoît Loiselle (cello) Stéphane Lemelin (piano)Composer: Dubois Generously timed (a shade over 81 minutes), imposingly engineered and played with devoted spontaneity, this is a captivating recital that turns out to be rather more than the sum ...
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ArticleMusic from Down Under. Sculthorpe: Baltimore Songlines. Conyngham: Playground. Knehans: rive. Mills: Four Miniatures. Marshall: Three Aspects of Spring
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Verdehr Trio Composer: Sculthorpe, Conyngham, Knehans, Mills, MarshallMost of these works, all commissioned by or for the Verdehr clarinet trio, are from this century – only Richard Mills’s Four Miniatures date from the last millennium – but ...
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ArticleBoccherini: String Trio in D major op.14 no.4, String Quartet in C minor op.41 no.1, String Quintet in C minor op.45 no.1, String Sextet in F minor op.23
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Europa Galante Composer: BoccheriniThe musicians of Europa Galante here offer strongly projected accounts of a cross-section of Boccherini’s chamber music for four different combinations of stringed instruments. Unsurprisingly, principal violinist Fabio Biondi and first cellist Maurizio Naddeo are the major ...
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ArticleCantabile. Arrangements of opera arias and songs by Gounod, Offenbach, Bizet, Delibes, Tchaikovsky, Thomas, Canteloube, Hahn, Faure, Lopez & Rossini*
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Mihaela Ursuleasa (piano)* Prague Philharmonic Orchestra/Charles Olivieri-MunroeComposer: Gounod, Offenbach, Bizet, Delibes, Tchaikovsky, Thomas, Canteloube, Hahn, Faure, Lopez & Rossini*‘She looks like a model,’ was my nine-year-old son’s immediate comment on seeing the cover picture of Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta. ...
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ArticleBritten: Double Concerto for Violin & Viola, Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Les illuminations
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Pieter Schoeman (violin) Alexander Zemtsov (viola) Sally Matthews (soprano) London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir JurowskiComposer: Britten Britten’s Double Concerto was written in 1932, immediately before his acknowledged op.1, the Sinfonietta, but remained unheard until as recently as 1997. Pieter Schoeman and Alexander ...
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ArticleBusoni: Violin Sonata no.2 in E minor op.36a. Enescu: Violin Sonata no.3 op.25 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain’
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nurit Stark (violin) Cédric Pescia (piano) Composer: Busoni, EnescuThis is an interesting disc debut for an Israeli violinist and French–Swiss pianist who form a regular duo and play in the Esart Trio. They appear to have held two public recording sessions ...
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ArticleDancla: Petite école de la mélodie op.123. Saint-Saëns: Violin Sonata no.1 in D minor op.75. Massenet: Méditation from ‘Thaïs’
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Guido Rimonda (violin) Cristina Canziani (piano)Composer: Dancla, Saint-Saëns, MassenetListening even blindfolded you would immediately identify Guido Rimonda as a player in the Italian tradition. His lithe, relatively lightweight, cantabile, seamlessly pure sound, sustained by a fast, narrow vibrato is straight out of ...
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ArticleRode: Violin Concertos no.7 in A minor op.9, no.10 in B minor op.19 & no.13 in F sharp minor/A major op.posth.
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Friedemann Eichhorn (violin) South West German Radio Orchestra, Kaiserslautern/Nicolás Pasquet Composer: RodePierre Rode (1774–1830) is chiefly remembered as one of the trio of Viotti disciples who founded the violin department of the Paris Conservatoire. His violin concertos owe a considerable ...
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ArticleArthur Butterworth: Viola Concerto op.82, Symphonies no.1 op.15* & no.4 op.72, plus interview feature
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Sarah-Jane Bradley (viola) Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Arthur Butterworth, Hallé Orchestra/John Barbirolli* Composer: Arthur ButterworthAs so many works of Mancunian composer Arthur Butterworth, the Viola Concerto was several years in the making before its premiere in 1993. Butterworth, who as a student ...
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ArticleDuo Virtuoso. Mozart: Duo in G major K423. Boccherini: Allegretto spiritoso from Sonata in D major HAYDN (attrib.) Poco adagio from Duo in D major Hob.VI:D1. Beethoven: Duo in C major WoO 27. Kodály:
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Elaris DuoComposer: Mozart, Boccherini, Haydn (attrib.), Beethoven, Halvorsen, KodályIn the 18th and early 19th centuries music for instrumental duos grew in popularity, much of it composed because a keyboard remained the domain of the wealthy. To maximise the sale of sheet music ...
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ArticleFeminissimo! Women Playing Music By Women. Works by Warshauer, Bacewicz, Price, Lund, Risher, Diemer, Viardot-Garcia, Kapralova, Fabregas
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Laura Kobayashi (violin) Susan Keith Gray (piano)Composer: Warshauer, Bacewicz, Price, Lund, Risher, Diemer, Viardot-Garcia, Kapralova, Fabregas Despite the rather earnest title, this disc does the valuable job of introducing a handful of female composers of various nationalities whose voices are rarely ...
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ArticleHallgrímsson: Cello Concerto op.30, Herma op.17
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Truls Mørk (cello) Scottish Chamber Orchestra/John StorgŠrdsComposer: Hallgrímsson This disc is a real find – some startlingly fresh music in exceptional performances, and a rich, crystal-clear recording. Icelander Hafliði Hallgrímsson (b.1941) was principal cellist of the Scottish Chamber ...
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ArticleHaydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ op.51
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Leipzig Quartet Composer: HaydnHaydn’s seven sober and imposingly spiritual ‘sonatas’, framed by a solemn introduction and dramatic epilogue, pose considerable interpretative problems, not least one of sustaining interest throughout. Haydn himself recognised these difficulties but persevered to fulfil the ...
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ArticlePaganini: 24 Caprices for solo violin op.1
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Tanja Becker-Bender (violin)Composer: PaganiniThe young German violinist Tanja Becker-Bender, who has just been touring Britain, thoroughly deserves the chance to record these cornerstones of the repertoire. She is captured quite close-up in a Stuttgart chapel – you hear intakes of breath – ...
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ArticlePartners in Time. Works by Kreisler, Bach, Mozart, Grieg, Tchaikovsky & Bartók
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Tasmin Little (violin) John Lenehan (piano)Composer: Kreisler, Bach, Mozart, Grieg, Tchaikovsky & Bartók Last year Tasmin Little’s website offered a free download of her recital The Naked Violin, with the objective of reaching out to those who hardly ever listen to ...
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ArticlePourquoi, Madame? Works by George Boulanger, Dinicu, Schmitz, Schmidseder, Nedbal, Monti, Lehár, Edelmann, Rezsö, Knümann & Trad.
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Prima Carezza Composer: George Boulanger, Dinicu, Schmitz, Schmidseder, Nedbal, Monti, Lehár, Edelmann, Rezsö, Knümann & Trad.Prima Carezza, an ensemble of two violins and accordion, here revisits the salon world of the early 20th century and its musical blend of Viennese poise ...
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ArticleCreith: Violin Concerto in G minor. Pitfield: Concerto lyrico. Arnell: Violin Concerto in One Movement op.9
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Lorraine McAslan (violin) Royal Scottish National Orchestra/MartinuYates Composer: Creith, Pitfield, ArnellAs all three pieces featured here are likely to be as unfamiliar to readers as they were to me, some historical background may prove helpful. Guirne Creith was the nom ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Cello Concertos no.1 op.107 & no.2 op.126
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Dimitri Maslennikov (cello) NDR Symphony Orchestra/Christoph EschenbachComposer: Shostakovich Shostakovich would surely have been gratified with the increasing prominence being given to his Second Cello Concerto, at least in terms of recording releases. It’s certainly a testing work, presenting the soloist ...
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ArticleSzymanowski: Nocturne and Tarantella op.28, Mythes op.30, Romance in D major op.23, Violin Sonata in D minor op.9, Three Paganini Caprices op.40, La berceuse d’Aïtacho Enia op.52
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Alina Ibragimova (violin) Cédric Tiberghien (piano)Composer: SzymanowskiMuch of this music is deeply poetic, diffuse, difficult to capture for listener and performers alike. Its extended rhapsodies and soliloquies, often extremely beautiful, twist around in amorphous lines that can too easily become meandering and ...
